It's well-known I don't have children, so maybe I'm out of the loop. So let's say I am going from a place of casual observation in what is all over our youth: increased asthma rates, cancer of all kinds, ADHD, autism, disorders of the brain, cancer... yeah I said that twice. It's that alarming.
How many people know a kid with cancer? In high school, we had one classmate who had cancer, and she died before we graduated. One, out of hundreds of kids. And that was tragic. Now? I almost can't think of it. Pediatric wards are FILLED with LITTLE KIDS with cancer. How is this even remotely not making every single one of us run around screaming and pulling our hair out? How has this become part of our reality? How do we just... accept it? "Well, no, G-Dub, we aren't accepting it, we hate it too." Then why do we persist in our ways? Because it's OK if it happens to other people's kids, but not ours? I don't have kids and it's not OK to me. I want the terrible nasties that make our kids sick to go away. That's why I do what I do. Just because I loved my eggs too much to fertilize them doesn't mean I don't care about the future. I'm a paradox. I accept this. (Ok, a little snark in this one.) I am by no means saying I'm the only one that gives a shit, I know I'm not, but damn it, why aren't we all giving more of a shit??? Pardon my English! The problem is that people are NOT looking around and realizing that their chemicals and products and things they MUST have to make their lives oh-so-much easier are KILLING us all. We spray chemicals all over our homes. Febreze here, Lysol there, Glade over here... and our demand for more and more power dumps more toxins and mercury and crap into the environment, causing how many developmental disorders? Autism: misdiagnosed for decades or crazy-on-the-rise? And why would these things be on the rise? What has changed in the last 40 years or so?
That's kind of a rhetorical question. I know what's changed. Maybe your kids are fine. Great, that's a blessing and you should be grateful. What about their kids? Do you want to see your grandkids suffer and die before they hit 11? Is it worth it to you to step away from the plastic bottles to see your grandkids healthy? Is it so hard to remember your reuseable bags that you spent a buck on, to know that your kids won't have to suffer through suffering of their kids? Can you slow down and go back to cooking real and healthy foods, for the sake of the future generations? Can you swear off plastic diapers, plastic pudding cups, plastic straws... fake fragranced sprays and detergents... paper/disposable everything? Can we think ahead, see what is happening, make it slow down?
If not, why?
"Our demand for ease and convenience is killing our future generations"
ReplyDelete- I am a teacher and I could not agree with you more! We barely teach content in school anymore because first we must teach children to "think" for themselves in general. And after we teach them to think, we teach them to take a standardized test. Its very sad and not what I thought I went to six years of school to do!! :(
Thank you, Autumn. Just when I think I may have been too harsh, I find someone like you who feels the same, and I know I am not alone. What do we do, though? :(
ReplyDeleteI did write a long reply to this blog, but then the site lost it when I hit preview. So had to do it again.
ReplyDeleteI fear for many future generations of children as many parents simply don't seem to understand the importance of a good upbringing!
Children WANT all the time, and some parents never seem to be able to say "NO".
They are constantly stimulated by TV and computer games and as soon as they sneeze, many parents fly to their GP, demanding antibiotics.
In the UK, 2 out of 3 parents have NEVER cooked their child a meal from scratch!! This is appalling and lazy. There seems to be some parents who think constantly feeding their children junk food is somehow acceptable. Then, of course, it's everyone else's fault when the child is fat. When in fact, their abuse (and I call it abuse) is 100% to blame.
That and the lack of exercise children have. Little Johnnie can't play out EVER as he might get abused or kidnapped, when the statistics for kidnapping are the same as the 1970's. I can understand parents anxiety at the large amount of traffic on the road, but we are wrapping our children in cotton wool. They are ill-prepared for society and expect everything to be handed to them on a plate and don't realise that life is hard and crap at times.
If you want to be truly horrified about the toxins that surround us every day, check out the book "Slow Death by Rubber Duck". It's a horrifying study of how we're being poisoned by chemicals in every day products. I have to warn you though... it sort of made me want to run off and live in a yert somewhere in the wilds of Mongolia.
ReplyDeleteI think that the long and the short of it is that we have allowed corporations to have WAY too much power. The agencies that are supposed to protect us are all run by politicians who have been bought off by their corporate overlords long ago. And given the Citizens United decision, the problem is only going to get worse. And the media that should be watching out for us is owned the the same corporations that are perpretrating all of the damage. It's government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations, and I don't see it changing any time soon.
It seems to me that the only hope is a popular uprising... people need to see beyond the carefully crafted messages that are purchassed by the corportacracy, and actually elect politicians who will work for us instead of for big business. Since that doesn't seem terribly likely, I think I'll just keep educating myself and voting with my wallet.
Excellent post! You've said all the things I'd love to have the courage to shout.
ReplyDeleteI agree also with EcoCatLady...the corporations (and perhaps our own Government) doesn't really seem to care if 80% of us keel over dead. Hey, they've got what they want and less humans using up the Earth's oxygen and resources, right?